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Anthony Bates Foundation

Anthony Bates BLOG

Can the new Apple Watch save your life?

9/19/2018

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Apple just announced its newest addition to the Apple Watch family: the Series 4. While it boasts a lot of new features like, like enhanced work out detection and larger screen, but can you guess what we’re most excited about? The new Apple Watch can take ECG readings and mail them directly to your doctor. Later iterations will even provide notifications for irregular heart rhythms. But is this enough to help in the fight against sudden cardiac arrest?
 
The ECG was invented in the late 1800s. It’s the machine that displays the squiggly lines, and always flatlines in TV dramas. It is used to detect abnormal heart rhythms and diagnose electrical conditions and heart attacks. It is also a good indicator for certain structural conditions. It is a very useful piece of equipment, but not all ECGs are created equal.
 
Most ECGs found in a doctor’s office or hospitals have 12 leads and allow you to conduct a reading at multiple points throughout the body. The Apple Watch is a one lead ECG so it monitors the heart rhythm from one spot on the body. This technology shows lots of promise, but it does not collect enough detail to diagnose heart conditions . . . yet.
 
Why does this matter? Sudden cardiac arrest is the leading cause of death of adults in the United States. It is the #1 cause of death of student athletes and takes the lives of thousands of children every year. Eighteen years ago, my son, Anthony, became one of those statistics. The Anthony Bates Foundation was created to raise awareness about heart disease and sudden cardiac arrest in children as well as create a heart screening program accessible to students and families. Let me offer this real-life scenario to illustrate my point.
 
Sam is thirteen. He complains that his heart races. It is hard to know what this really means because Sam is the only one who feels his symptoms. Does Sam consume too much caffeine? Is he an anxious kid? Does he have a heart condition?
 
Sam comes to one of our screening days in the fall 2014. After getting an ECG (12 lead), he is diagnosed with Wolff Parkinson White Syndrome - an electrical condition the can often lead to sudden cardia arrest. It is possible that the new Apple Watch would have recorded his racing heart. This would’ve provided his parents and doctor with clues about his complaints. It could have led to further testing, the 12 lead ECG, to diagnose his condition. In other words, the watch could have taken the ambiguity out of Sam’s description.
 
Following his diagnosis, Sam underwent a medical procedure called an ablation (right after my son’s 14th AngelDay. Coincidence?). Now, Sam is completely healthy and doing well in high school and in the band.
 
We should celebrate this new advancement for what it is. It brings affordable medical technology into our homes. It empowers consumers with valuable information. It raises awareness about heart health. It will give our children insight into how hard their heart works every day. It will help them understand how their heart behaves in certain situations. There’s no doubt that this will lead to a better quality of life.
 
In the meantime, get your child’s heart screened. Check Out our heart screening calendar on AZ & KS. And our friends at Simon's Heart have a national list, too! Check Out their list! A heart screening could save a child's life. Like Sam & many others!

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Bill Snyder - "They Said It Couldn't Be Done..."

1/30/2018

 
It was the last week of July, 2000, when Anthony Bates, a Wildcat defensive tackle called his mom, Sharon, at her home in Phoenix, Arizona. During small talk, he complained of being out of shape, suggesting that maybe too much soda during the summer was taking its toll.
The Mountain Pointe High School and Phoenix College product's voice was alarming enough for his mother to call his K-State position coach, Mo Latimore, asking if he would check in on her son.
Three days later, July 31, Latimore was back on the phone with Sharon, telling her that her son had been involved in an automobile accident and was dying.
Bates was returning to his apartment from what was called a light workout. An autopsy revealed that the muscular 20-year-old had passed out due to an undiagnosed Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy (HCM), a thickening of the heart for no apparent reason.
Bates' heart weight was 680 grams, or more than three times the size of a normal heart. Bates fell victim to the same disease that claimed the lives of basketball players Hank Gathers and Reggie Lewis.
"I guess how I look at it is the Lord felt Anthony had to have a big heart to handle all the goodness he demonstrated," said Snyder.
He added, "Regardless of your faith, you have to ask why? But some people put more life into 20 years
than others do in 80 years. It told his mother, there was enough affection and passion in their relationship
to last a lifetime."
But Snyder added, "That one hit us a little differently. We had 20-year-olds all around who knew it could have been them. It was a time when all of us rallied around the Bates family."
A service was help for Bates on August 5 at the All Faith's Chapel.
At the ceremony, teammate Jonathan McGraw played a violin solo.
"Having faith in God, and knowing Anthony, I know things are under control," McGraw said. "It shows you how fragile and temporary life is, but knowing Anthony, he's in heaven. For me that makes it a easier to handle."
Bates was an active kid who had played football since he was 9, as well as many other sport involving a ball.
Each year he would go through a standard sports physical. When he had surgery on his finger in his senior year of high school, an EKG was performed, but no hint of HCM was found. Sharon Bates would learn that HCM is a genetic heart disease that forms in the heart muscle, typically during adolescence.  The surest way to detect the disease is through an echocardiogram of the heart.
Soon after her son's death, Sharon Bates founded the Anthony Bates Foundation in an effort to promote heart health and education through fund raisers and events.
"I needed to heal," Mrs. Bates said, "This was a very unfair thing for a parent to go through, and I want to prevent it from happening to others."
She promoted free cardiac screening events in Kansas, Arizona, and Nevada, targeting young student-athletes aged 14 and older.
She says of her mission, "With education there is power, with power comes life."

"She has attacked this mission with as much persistence as I ever have put into the game of football," said Snyder.

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Give a Gift of Life

1/18/2018

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"Give a Gift of Life" by supporting the Anthony Bates Foundation Youth Cardiac Screening program. HCM crosses ALL age groups, ethnicities and genders. Young athletes represent only 15% of fatalities caused by HCM. It is the added physical exertion of the heart during exercise and the cool down phase of the heart that will cause a Sudden Cardiac Arrest (SCA). 

The Anthony Bates Foundation (ABF) believes that no parent should suffer the heartbreak of losing a child to an undiagnosed cardiac malady; we seek to eliminate preventable Sudden Cardiac Arrest (SCA). The organization will fulfill its mission by continuing our efforts to establish a nationwide heart screening program for youth, free of charge or low cost, thus solving a significant public health issue through screenings, education, collaboration and facilitation.

Our program to screen youth 12 years and up is done through the generosity of donations from people like you. You can be a hero by making a donation today!


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An Unexpected Danger

1/18/2018

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Sharon Bates is using her son’s sudden death from hypertrophic cardiomyopathy in 2000 to help other young adults.
She does that by organizing free public cardiac screenings, six of which have been held in Arizona, where anybody can get checked for heart problems.

Anthony Bates was 20 years old when he died from undiagnosed HCM.   A graduate of Mountain Pointe High School in Phoenix, he was a member of the Kansas State University football team.
           
“He had been a member of the team for a year and a half and was going to start next year,” his mom said.

Anthony was in the weight room at school on the morning of his death.  On his way home, he passed out behind the wheel.  “Paramedics took him to the hospital, but he died,” Sharon Bates said.  “That’s the problem with this.  The only warning sign Anthony had was sudden death.”
            Bates said parents need to know that their children, even non-athletes, should be routinely checked and that they should be aggressive in getting treatment if their child is diagnosed with HCM, a congenital enlargement of the heart.
            “Be the advocate of your child’s health care,” she said.

The diseaseHCM is a genetic heart disease that forms in the heart muscle, usually in the teen years of life, according to Sharon’s Web site, anthonybates.org.

Although there is no cure, a person diagnosed with HCMA can live a normal life with proper treatment.  Bates said 5,000 to 7,000 kids die of HCM every year.  It is the leading cause of sudden cardiac death in young athletes.

The screeningsBates organized heart screenings in her son’s memory as a way to promote awareness of the disease and encourage parents to watch their teens for warning signs.
She has had support from cardiac physicians, heart screeners and nurses in offering screenings.
Reservations for the screenings aren’t required.  They include echocardiograms and EKG tests, if necessary.  Participants also must fill out a medical history form.
Five of the more than 170 people screened at an event this fall in Peoria were found to have heart abnormalities, Bates said.  Abnormalities are usually found in six to 10 percent of the people who attend the screenings.  She tells everyone with a newly detected abnormality to seek medical advice.
“It’s not a disappointment that we didn’t find more people,” she said.  “But it’s exciting that we found some and can start leading them toward the path of educating themselves and taking care of their heart.”
The benefits

Rick Johnson, athletic director for the Peoria Unified School District, said he will encourage coaches to take their athletes to the Peoria presentation Jan. 22.  He said too many young adults feel immortal but may have an undetected threat to their life.  He also said teachers and staff should take advantage of the screenings.

“This is what makes them aware that they need to seek medical advice and maybe prolong their life,” he said.
 
What to look forThe American Heart Association recommends that young athletes have heart screenings every two years.  Here are some warning signs of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.
  • Shortness of breath
  • Chest pains
  • Dizziness/blackouts.
  • Heart palpitations (racing heart).

By:  Louie Villalobos
The Arizona Republic 

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